BACKGROUND

Managed turfgrass areas, such as golf courses, sports fields, landscaped amenity areas and public parks, all act as an important social, environmental and economic resource for both urban and rural communities. These areas serve a multifunctional purpose by offering valuable open spaces for recreation, helping to improve the health and quality of life for individuals and, when designed and managed appropriately, enhancing biodiversity and supporting regulatory targets for environmental protection. Conversely, where turfgrass management practices are inadequate or inappropriate, their services to society are reduced and their impacts on the natural environment can be damaging and costly.

The future challenges for turfgrass and golf course management are many and diverse. They include increasing demands on natural resources (notably land use, water resources and energy) driven by economic development and population growth, coupled with government demands for greater environmental protection, which are creating conflicts at the interface between land management (including turfgrass) and the environment. The situation is particularly acute in peri-urban areas, where the majority of managed turfgrass facilities are concentrated. Population growth, migration and climate change will exacerbate the current situation, by increasing the competition for resources between individual sectors, including agriculture, urban development, tourism and the environment.

Many golf courses, sport facilities and stadiums are under economic pressure due to the financial consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and economic recession in many parts of the world. In many countries there has also been a decrease in the number of registered golf players. It is common for golf courses to base their financial stability on a constant inflow of members, rather than a static membership. However, they are now facing the challenge of balancing this approach against the new concept of fewer members and new conditions in a more variable and more competitive market.

The keys to success in future golf course and turfgrass management will be to increase resource use efficiency, reduce maintenance costs and minimise the environmental impact. In this context, protection and enhancement of ecosystem services will need to be fully integrated into the planning, design, construction and management of all golf and turfgrass facilities.

The Nordic Golf Federations have approximately 900 000 members, playing golf on more than 900 courses that occupy a total area of more than 60 000 hectares. Any societal activity as significant as golf must take responsibility for building knowledge through research and development (R&D). There are several important reasons why Nordic R&D is necessary. In Central Scandinavia, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki lie at the same latitude as the southern tip of Greenland (~60oN). This gives a unique climate resulting from a combination of factors such as light, temperature and precipitation during the playing season and particularly during the winter season. The Nordic climate creates conditions for plant growth and construction and management of golf courses, sports fields etc. that are not found anywhere else in the world.

R&D will continue to be a necessary and strategically important investment for the golf sector in achieving economically and environmentally sustainable golf facilities of a high standard and in establishing the credibility of golf as an environmentally friendly sport. Golf facilities that are already using new knowledge are achieving cost savings through more efficient management strategies, while also enhancing their golf course, raising the profile of their golf facility and improving the environment.

The financial resources allocated to R&D in each country are very limited and the number of scientists actively working within each priority R&D area is also quite limited compared with agricultural and forestry research. The financial resources and efforts of these researchers should therefore be coordinated through STERF, to optimise R&D within the golf and turfgrass sector.